As Blanks limps, Pads light it up

Rookie homers then leaves game in six-run second

Kyle Blanks follows through on his second-inning, two-run homer against the Marlins Friday. Blanks, still feeling the effects of a foot injury, left the game for a pinch-hitter later in the six-run inning.
— Associated Press

Kyle Blanks follows through on his second-inning, two-run homer against the Marlins Friday. Blanks, still feeling the effects of a foot injury, left the game for a pinch-hitter later in the six-run inning.
/ Associated Press

WHO'S HOT

Everth Cabrera: Has his fourth two-hit game in his past five, drives in two runs and steals his 20th base of the season. But the key is his two-out bunt single in the second.

WHO'S NOT

Chris Volstad: Marlins starter exiled to the minors after giving up six runs on six hits and two walks in just 1-2/3 innings.

BY THE NUMBERS

0 – Hits by Adrian Gonzalez in his past two games following a 12-game road hitting streak that saw him bat .537 (29-for-54) with eight doubles, seven homers and 15 RBI.

3 – Walks by Kevin Kouzmanoff last night, the first three-walk game of his career.

10 – Homers in a span of 98 at-bats by rookie Kyle Blanks

99 – Walks by Gonzalez, the 10th-highest total in Padres history.

MIAMI 
All along, he said the “discomfort” didn't bother him when he swung the bat. When a ball he struck lands atop the fence marked “434,” there can be no doubt about the young man's ability to hit. Or his sheer might.

But it's the plantar fascia. The heel.

As he was rounding first base last night on the home run trot and his right foot crumpled, almost causing the enormity of Kyle Blanks to fall forward into the basepath dirt, it was painfully plain to see that the Padres rookie slugger with four homers in his past six starts might not be appearing in another lineup anytime soon.

Having aggravated the strain that basically sidelined him for the past week, Blanks limped to home plate, a place also touched by several teammates in a 9-5 thumping of the Florida Marlins. Although rosters are to be expanded in just a few days and that enters into consideration, there is the possibility that Blanks is destined for the disabled list, especially with the Padres needing to make a roster move to call up left-handed pitcher Wade LeBlanc to start today's game.

“It feels about the same as the first time,” said Blanks of this second incident. “It felt like I didn't have that step there, like I had to catch myself again. I'd really just like to hope for the best, see how it feels tomorrow and try and think good thoughts. Hopefully, it's just something small that need times to cool off.

“It doesn't hurt worse than the first time. It doesn't feel better, but it hurts a little bit less.”

With the usual tens of thousands of empty orange seats at what's now called Land Shark Stadium, Blanks' blast literally was the loudest noise amid a six-run second inning in which the Padres unleashed seven hits, including two RBI singles by Will Venable and a two-out RBI bunt single by Everth Cabrera. They totaled 16 hits, the Padres' second game of merry-go-round offense in three nights.

Blanks' homer was the 27th round-tripper off Marlins starter Chris Volstad in 27 outings, although this hardly qualified as a start, since the 6-foot-8 Volstad was gone and looking dumbstruck in the dugout after just two outs in the second. Later to be sent down to Triple-A, Volstad was replaced by the dependable Brian Sanches, whose streak of 25 2/3 scoreless innings also was ruined by the Padres.

Then again, the Padres needed all those hits and at least a half-dozen spectacular defensive plays by the shortstop Cabrera to thwart the Marlins, who banged out 14 hits. Kevin Correia went 6 2/3 innings, giving up 11 hits, but only walking one and holding a 9-4 lead at his exit.

“Weird night,” Correia said. Asked about Cabrera, he said, “I'm his biggest fan. He saves so many pitches, like, 30 pitches on just one play. And he's only going to get better.”

That's the question about Blanks, who's endured the sub-heel problem for years, even as he continued to be the highest-rated prospect in the Padres organization. And this, remember, was the 6-foot-6, 285-pounder who wheeled his way to an inside-the-park homer last week at Petco Park.

Manager Bud Black said that when Blanks first came back to the dugout with a visible limp, he asked for “just a little time to let it quiet down.”

“I'm no doctor,” Black said. “I'm not overly familiar with the plantar-fascia syndrome or whatever the hell it is, so we have to treat it in such a way where we'd monitor the progress. There are precedents that say, hey, it could be a week to two weeks or three weeks, depending on the severity of the injury. I just don't know at this point.”